The efforts in the automotive industry to save gasoline have led to an increased use of aluminum materials for more and more elements of a vehicle. Even if these light-weight materials have advantages such as corrosion resistance, low weight, etc., some disadvantages are observed, particularly low strength, higher thermal expansion coefficient, lower admissible surface pressure and higher price.
In the field of vehicle wheel suspensions, so-called pivotal bearing assemblies (front) and wheel support members (rear) are used to transfer the forces coming from the shock struts (weight of the vehicle) via the wheel bearings to the wheels and, thus onto the road. Moreover, anchoring points for the steering elements, for the brake saddles as well as for the wishbone are required. The pivotal bearing assemblies are highly stressed elements that play an important role as far as the safety of the vehicle is concerned; moreover, they are highly exposed to corrosion, caused, for example, by road salt.